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Hahahahaha... I love Lily Tomlin! This is a very good question!! My pie used to be probably about 99% life was conspiring against me. I was almost down for the count. These days, it's about 50% neutral, 40% feeling good, and 10% feeling bad. I had to take up meditation just to shut my constant negative ranting up. What a relief! I also deliberately choose activities and thoughts that make me feel good. I still have some deep-seated negative stuff that tries to get back in control, but that is nothing compared to what it once was... I once had a 7ft demon living inside me, wrestling me for my soul, hahahahaha!

Hi to all, I am a new member of Mylot, and as i was getting used to this site I saw your small paragraph!!! I think that my pie chart will be probably similar to yours, but this quote is really something that will probably change my point of view of life from today. I live in a small country in Europe, and in summer days it is invaded with illegal immigrants that leave their home land to find a better living. They come to European countries to have the opportunity to live a better life, but by doing this they usually end up being locked up in a refugee camp or even worse sent back to their country. These people would have left their country,with all their belongings, and some of them would have also left their families behind, not to mention the accessive ammount of money they will have to pay for the promised trip to Europe. I think it would be ligitimate for these people to complain, but recently i have visited the refugee camp and talked to some of these people. I realised, that although they are locked up, like prisoners, they still enjoy life and are very gratefull to the authorities of my country, cause they have saved them. I could not understand how these people are gratefull to someone who had them locked up as if they were criminals??? I think this is a good example of what this quote is all about. We have everything and complain, and people who have nothing are very happy of what they have. What do you think???? Do you agree???

We all complain a lot, that's for sure. It seems we find it hard to be satisfied of the good things, we seldom talk about it, but oh boy! Do we talk of the bad things in our life! Shucks! I am at times guilty of this though I try so much to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. And when I have complaints, I try so hard not to express it to other people and just keep it to myself. My pie chart would then be 30-30-40. The 30s are for both positive and negative that I vocally express and 40% for the complaints that I kept within me. Sad, it still leaves me with 70% complaints.

if i create my own pie chart let me say its 1% positive and 99% negative against me..I am so much pessimistic over things and i am an assuming person...reason why I'd rather assume is to overcome disappointments in sooner time..see if i stay positive and thing didn't work out it will give me depression but if i expected something negative and it didn't work out it gives me less pain and burden as well as if it turns out positive then it gives me more joy than what i expected..i more likely to complain in every minute of my life..i just cant help it but complain

Ya gotta love Lily! And I totally agree with her. Since complaining doesn't get us anywhere anyway, I'd have to say that only 10% of my pie chart would be complaining. What's the use? The other 90% would be of a more positive nature.

80% of what I say is plain silliness. Silliness only meant for the entertainment and education of my 16 month old baby. 10% is spent talking about my baby, 7% is complaining. and 3% is left for business, gratitude, and anything else that hasn't fit into my pie chart yet. That is a pretty sad pie chart.

My pie chart would change on a daily basis,ranging from 30% positive to 70% positive. There are those days that i feel right on top of the world and there are those days when i feel down in the dumps. The poster certainly makes a lot of sense. Given a chance to rattle off, i most certainly would.

I think the quote is very clever and it's true as well! lol. It is human nature to complain. Much the same as it is on our nature to gossip. In a way, it's a defense mechanism and a means to release. We use it not only to get things off our chests but to satisfy our subliminal desires for sympathy. As for my own pie chart, I would like to have my positive part as at least 70% or more because an optimistic attitude will ward off those conspiring against me anyway! But more than likely my chart would just end up looking like a pie with a thick crust! All the sweet goodness is beneath that tough exterior!

I have a very low tolerance for people who complain and I don't even find jokes like that funny. It IS supposed to be a joke, isn't it? Recently I was explaining somewhere on myLot that whenever somebody says a negative thing it is my believe that they should "undo the harm" by saying something constructive to counteract the negativity s/he created and then saying two nice things afterwards, one to clear the air and another turn the situation positive. My chart would be at least 90% positive and probably more so, but in any case it would never fall below 66% positive because I liken negative expressions to trash, and I always clean up after myself. Would that other people did the same.

Hi SaintAnne yep I think Lilys got something there. I didnt realize just how much I have complained about life big and little and really inconsequential problems My pie chart would be about 60 percent complaining about bad luck,retirement woes, lost job, etx etc and forty percent positive. . So accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and dont mess with Mr. Unbetween.

I think language was primarily made for us to communicate. Since communication involves a lot of things whether good or bad, I think when we hear a lot of complaints it's just one of the ways humans cope up with stress. For me I can't generalize a pie chart because it really depends for each person.

Well, I am complaining to myself in the office and I see your topic. Then I consider this seriously and I find recently my pie chart will be 20% good things while tragically 80% cynical comments. It shcoked me that I'd been complaining around so much. Yeah, I used to complain a lot mostly about my former job, about the bad environment and unhumane management codes. But recently it turned into the new job, busy and boring at the same time, never challenging, such a small Finish invested corp. Intertesting phenomenon. Perhaps human beings are borned to be never satisfied with what we have and always want to change, for better or worse. Is it complaining that makes some of us think soberly and then new inventions come out?

Hmmmmmm, You are right anne! I sure know that I complain an awful lot! My pie chart would be almost a whole pie of complaining and just a little sliver positive! Lily is such a bright woman! I knew I liked her for so many reasons. Besides being funny she is smart too! It is very true that humans tend to complain an awful lot about every little thing. I know that I am definitely guilty of this exact thing, and I know that I shouldn't be because if I would truly take a good look around me there are so many other people who are so much worse off than I am. I should really be ashamed of myself. I don't know what it is about complaining. It feels good? It makes you look better to yourself? Now I'm trying to justify my reasons for doing it and I can't even come up with one good justification~ so note to self~Stop complaining so damn much!!!

actually what is this.. ;

I have always contended that people, myself included, are stupid. We do so many stupid things and we often use words to make our stupid actions somewhat more acceptable to us and our discerning minds that see the stupidity of our actions. Lily Tomlin is wrong, shallow even. People complain to divert attention from their stupidity. Cheers!!